At the same time, the English obviously experienced ambivalent feelings towards "their" France. On the one hand they aimed to conquer it, but on the other hand the ambitious aspirations of the crown to unite the insular and the continental possessions were resisted by English society due to the desire to cement their political isolation. English resistance to the threat of political unification with the other subjects of their monarchs extended primarily to the French, while the prospect of "merging" with the other peoples of the British Isles was less frightening. It is remarkable that even during the periods of greatest military success on the continent, English kings issued, under pressure from Parliament, protective statutes reinforcing the "national isolation" of the English Kingdom.

Returning to the problem of the formation of the idea of a collective state interest in English society during the 14lh — 15th century wars, it is significant that at the last stage of the Hundred Years' War, a new purpose arose for English foreign policy. At that time, certain authors began to contend that the true prosperity of England consisted not in possession of the French crown, but was limited to the British Isles and control of the seaways. Gradually, it was the kingdom of England and its national interests that became the major object of foreign policy, instead of the personal aspirations of sovereigns or the protection of an abstract higher justice.

One more change in the perception of military conflicts, outlined during the Late Middle Ages and further developed in the Modem period, consists in the idea of war as a "normal" element of foreign policy. During the 14th and 15th centuries, the interpretation of any war was traditionally accompanied by reasoning on human sins, divine punishment and the struggle for justice, but meanwhile there was already a tendency to understand military actions as a lawful way of defending national interests, as well as a logical and even "natural" way to achieve a given objective; a form of foreign policy only slightly more radical than diplomatic negotiations.

During the periods of extended foreign conflict when a community requires "proofs" of its hereditary superiority over the enemy, the interest of historians and other members of society in a heroic past invariably becomes stronger. The collective memory of the glorious events of national history is one of the most important factors of national self-consciousness. In the period of the Hundred Years' War, English collective ideas of the national past possessed a typical set of the characteristics inherent in ethno-political myths. Examples include identification of ancestors with a glorious ancient people; exaggeration of said ancestors' various achievements, etc. From its overall memory of the past, society selected the most vital and topical episodes of history, which in the course of time could fade into oblivion or receive new meanings. However, the mere fact of manipulation of history for propagandistic purposes does not testify to the maturity of national consciousness. There is a more important issue: any attempt to correct important community legends was unequivocally recognized as a discrediting and dangerous act, even as an encroachment on the sanctum sanctorum of that society, and demanded immediate refutation.